GU10 downlighter almost went on fire

DaveD

We have these downlights (spotlights) throughout the house. They were put in around 5 years ago.

Over the weekend we smelled a bit of burning, couldn't trace it though and it went away. Then on Saturday night the burning smell came back and was quite strong, fuse board tripped too.

Managed to trace the problem to one of the downlights in the kitchen. The heat from the bulb has melted the wire running to the light and exposed the insides of the wire. Caused some scorching too.

My question is, after repairing the wire, can i just change all bulbs to LED type, to reduce the heat? I had our builder out today who did the work and he said we'd need to replace all the light units and then install LED's.

meercat

hi dave
the simple answer is yes you can replace the bulbs with leds
might be worth checking all the other leads also

donallips

It surprised me that this happened after it was so long put in there
As regards the led’s my experience of them was extremely poor, every electrician I know. 4 of them told me that the light is very annoying and very artificial one told me he put in 16 for someone despite his advice only for them to change them back to halogen a month later you will have to change the transformers too if there is more than 1-2 per transformer they won’t work there are fluorescents the light of the is good and save you about 2/3 on electricity and your transformers work no problems and they arn’t hot either
If you must try an led but just one bulb that’s what I did only to find out they were just like what the electricians told me

paddymick

donallips wrote: »

It surprised me that this happened after it was so long put in there
As regards the led’s my experience of them was extremely poor, every electrician I know. 4 of them told me that the light is very annoying and very artificial one told me he put in 16 for someone despite his advice only for them to change them back to halogen a month later you will have to change the transformers too if there is more than 1-2 per transformer they won’t work there are fluorescents the light of the is good and save you about 2/3 on electricity and your transformers work no problems and they arn’t hot either
If you must try an led but just one bulb that’s what I did only to find out they were just like what the electricians told me

There are no transformers to be changed!
And on the led`s your 4 electricians must be using cheap bad ones, Ive been using them for a good while now and havn`t had literally one complaint.

donallips

paddymick wrote: »

There are no transformers to be changed!
And on the led`s your 4 electricians must be using cheap bad ones, Ive been using them for a good while now and havn`t had literally one complaint.

sorry read the post wrong thought he was on about mr16 for some reason they use transformers. yes 4 electricians I know one being my brother said that were crap. except for shop displays. When I asked in ct electric a electrical wholesaler they told me not to get them and they sell them. Another said he tried them out too and he took them out too this guy owns different wholesale electrician shop. I do hope that they will come out with a more balanced bulb they use a hell of a lot less electricity a no I did not use the cheap ones these were 15 euro wholesale

exaisle

Theres another extensive thread here about LED GU10's. I have them throughout my entire house....so if I put all of the lights on it's less than 200watts and plenty bright.

The Phillips 4watt are excellent and I can vouch for those.





http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056469034

donallips

don’t get me wrong here I have no vendetta against them its just the technology is not there yet well at least when I bought mine which was only 7 months ago remember when fluorescents came out they had similar problems I can’t wait till they perfect the leds apparently there will be decent dimmable ones soon without all the complication’s they have now and I can’t wait for it. Cree a type of led is going to be even more efficient. All I’m saying for now is get the best ones you can and try before you rush in and go replacing the lot. i would recommend the warm ones over the whites form the few iv seen

exaisle

For anybody who's interested, Eurosales have a special on the Phillips 4w LED GU10 at the moment...

meercat

exaisle wrote: »

For anybody who's interested, Eurosales have a special on the Phillips 4w LED GU10 at the moment...

spill the beans
how much?:D

2011

DaveD wrote: »

I had our builder out today who did the work and he said we'd need to replace all the light units and then install LED's.

First of all I would recommend that you get electrical advice from an electrician rather than a builder.

Having said that he is correct in terms that LED lamps operate at a far lower temperature than halogen GU10s.

If halogen GU10s are installed correctly they will not melt cables.

exaisle

meercat wrote: »

spill the beans
how much?:D

€8.50 plus VAT for the newer dimmable version...although I think that's been the price for a while...so maybe not the great deal I suspected..still, not a bad price for a good lamp.

Stoner

I'm locking this thread.

See the sticky if you want to continue questions on the issue.
Thank you.


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056469034